A Painter's Catharsis On Canvas

September 19, 2001|By Patty Pensa Staff Writer

The image struck Naza McFarren like a lightning bolt.

And she struck back with the gentle strokes of her paintbrush.

It is Naza's interpretation of what is now a widely recognized photograph of three New York City firefighters hoisting an American flag amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center and a gray cloud surrounding them.

To the Brazilian-born artist, who lives west of Boca Raton and uses only her first name, the image represents a silver lining. Her version of photojournalist Thomas Franklin's picture emerges from a 5-by-4-foot canvas through its three-dimensional quality.

"The best thing I can do is paint," said Naza, 45. "It's the way I can show my emotions. When something touches me, painting is my way of dealing with it."

Like the rest of the nation, Naza was shocked when she heard about last week's terrorism. She also was scared for her children: 22-year-old Guiomar, who works at a Washington, D.C., job placement company for the military, and 13-year-old Daniel, who attends high school in nearby Arlington, Va.

Both were unhurt, but the pain of last week's attacks nagged Naza.

Urged by a friend, a photojournalist for The Washington Post, Naza secluded herself for 10 hours in the Holiday Inn in Boca Raton on Saturday. With focused intensity, she began at midnight, not stopping for so much as a sip of water until 10 a.m. when the painting was near completion.

During that time, Naza tried to keep her thoughts positive. She focused on the country's swelling community spirit and New York's heroic rescue efforts.

But it was difficult.

"I cried many times when doing the painting," she said. "I couldn't stop thinking about the innocent people, the innocent children in the airplane. I don't even like to think about it."

The image is strikingly similar to photojournalist Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize- winning picture of six military officers raising the flag after the United States captured the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II. Sculptor Felix W. de Weldon, then a Navy officer, was so moved by the image that he created a life-size model of it.

The Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C., immortalizes that scene. Naza hopes to accomplish the same with her painting, called "Ground Heroes."

"To me, the biggest heroes in the world are the firefighters," she said. "I want it to stay where it will remind people of the heroism of the firefighters."

Naza does not plan to profit from her painting. She has contacted U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., to see if he would present her work to New York officials.

"I was not born here, but I am as proud as any American who was born here," she said. "I chose to be an American."

Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6609.